Feedback / Why do you keep coming back to PolishForums? [13]

I have, in the past, said that I'd ignore PF for a while, but I don't think I have ever stated that I'd leave. If I say that I would leave, I would say so knowing that I'd have to go back on my word, either brazenly returning as Osiol, or sheepishly under a new name. Osiol is a good name, so I wouldn't like to give it up, but I do have plenty of other good ideas.

I have now met two other members of Polish Forums as a result of being here. Most, if not all of whom seem to be very nice people.


Is it a crown or is it a very small sombrero? Sombrerito? Somrerko? Mały duży meksykański kapelusz.

Feedback / Why do you keep coming back to PolishForums? [13]

I came here more when I was more actively learning Polish and when internet forums were a new thing to me. I think I came here slightly less when I was busy having a Polish girlfriend, then (strangely) even less than that when I had the second of two Polish lodgers living in my flat. Really, I'm not as interested in all this stuff as I was, although I do come back just to see what's going on and to remind myself of how forum addicts spend their lives. I am almost cured.

Food / What Polish food or drink do you not like and why? [37]


This reminds me of the jellied eel I once had at New Year. Despite liking so many things normally associated with London, I don't like jellied eel and I hadn't expected it to be a Polish dish either.

I also don't like Polish beer in a can. That's mostly because I don't like any beer that comes in a can, so it's not specifically a Polish food and drink issue.

Love / Polish Girls Reputation [231]

The Polish Forums Anthem may enlighten some people about Polish girls and how they are perceived both by themselves and by others.

w754.wrzuta.pl/audio/06DsniQa5LS/pf_anthem - Polish Forums Anthem

Language / PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS IN POLAND [24]

Since when was Cillit an English word? Doesn't it look weird in a lot of different languages?

There are accents in English where the g is pronounced distinctly at the end of the ng sound.

News / Most important invention made in Poland [53]


A wheel? Just one wheel? Is the unicycle a Polish invention?

History / Are Poles the ones who understand Russians better than anyone? [35]

Russians know Russians better than Poles know Russians.

Or do they?

I'm English and I don't understand the English. Plenty of people here claim to know better, both from here and from abroad.

Who, in this case, constitute Russians? The so-called ethnic Russians or people of the Russian Federation generally, both Russian and non-Russian? I've read plenty of Dostoevsky and a bit of Russian and Finno-Ugric history, but don't usually claim that makes me any sort of expert in the field.

UK, Ireland / Friend told "just allow your son to forget Polish" by school. [96]


My ex-girlfriend's English is very poor. Her kids are learning much quicker, but hearing their mother making mistakes could be confusing. Mothers in children's eyes are all-knowing and all-powerful. Hearing mistakes does indeed make problems. If anything, she should actually learn English from her children.

If she was told by a teacher that she should speak English in the family home, her answer would probably be something like "no understand" and if she did understand, I'm sure she would disagree. Watching English instead of Polish TV would make a much bigger and better difference.

Language / Example sentences for different cases. [42]


Both you and the Polish language are confusing things. Luckily, although Polish is confusing, it has its own internal consistency and logic.

"To jest..." is a phrase on its own, independent of what it might actually be in gender terms. Use of the word jest leads to the noun that "to" is being instrumental.

To jest kobietą.

Now someone else will tell me I'm wrong.

Language / The Dative Case [62]

Dzień dobry. Dawaj osłu marchewę.

UK, Ireland / Polish meat in English supermarkets? [73]

How much Polish food is the same stuff but with Polish writing on it? It's an easy way to make money out of people.


I cooked a curry that found its way very happily into a Polish stomach.


But I'm more open to foreign food than you, and you're Scottish and I'm English. Where does that leave everyone?

Language / Why do you have this weird grammar with y and i? optYka? magazYn? zYsk? why? [30]


A French word.

English is more of an exception in that it nearly always maintains the spelling used in the language from which a word has been borrowed. This often leads to a change in pronunciation that may not relate well to the original word.

UK, Ireland / England, Dirty, Expensive and a dangerous place to live? [205]

I'll be awarding points and they're not cheap ones either. I went to town and spent a bit of money on them (they're all quite expensive over here). As English points, they may require a bit of cleaning. Only if you're really unlucky will these (or those) points turn against you. Points can be dangerous. They're quite pointy.

I'm supposed to move my fridge into the front garden. (See how we have now shifted from the pataphysical world back into one that seems to be rooted in reality, if only temporarily). I need to put a sign on it saying:

Free fridge, in good working order, ideal for cheese, beer, milk, beer, butter, bacon, beer and beer. Please take it before it rains.

UK, Ireland / England, Dirty, Expensive and a dangerous place to live? [205]

I have left an old fridge out in the garden. That's quite bad, isn't it?

History / Poland before WWII or Poland now what would you choose? [390]


Russia probably thinks it does, rather like a strict father who means to be cruel to be kind.

Life / Why do a lot of Polish people stare and why is good personal hygeine shunned? [108]


What does that mean? To sweat whilst eating hay?

Life / Why do a lot of Polish people stare and why is good personal hygeine shunned? [108]

KEEP FILTH PURE!

Anyway...



To put hairgel on a bald head would seem slightly queer.

Life / Why do a lot of Polish people stare and why is good personal hygeine shunned? [108]


I noticed that some Polish girls are dirty.

Are we talking about mental hygiene or actual hygiene?

History / Poland: dont blame us its the Germans. [174]


My mother had been going to schhol for a couple of years before bombs started falling where she lived. There were still "bombsites" in cities for years after the second world war. The reason I don't know what my grandparents' generation did during this war, was because despite how some of the popular culture depicts them, most did not like to talk about it because of the absolute horror or war and so many friends and family members, particularly young men, had been killed.

Many did emigrate after the second world war, to countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada because there was nothing left in Britain for them. The economy wasn't good, so many houses had been destroyed and there was rationing for years after the war had ended.

No-one can justify blaming anyone who was not guilty of actually doing anything. Blaming descendents of those who had done wrong is just pure idiocy.

News / Nobility / Aristocracy in Poland ? [92]


This only works if one's country is a "fatherland" if one's country is a "motherland" then logically one would have to be matriotic.

In English, being non-person nouns, countries are usually rendered as neuter, but like boats and other vessels, they can be referred to in the feminine. Also, Britannia is feminine. Polska is feminine. La France is feminine. So instantly most posters on this thread should find patriotism an impossibility.

- Lord Osiol of Donkeyshire

News / Nobility / Aristocracy in Poland ? [92]


There were some who left Poland as well as many who didn't.

Right at the top of the nobility is monarchy. There are many drama queens on this forum, but most couldn't be classified as noble.

Life / Worrying observation about Polish attitudes to lying and cheating [62]

An ex-Polish girlfriend? What did she become? Swiss? Sounds like a swizz to me.

Life / Help with Polish Nicknames / Diminutive Names [21]

pgtx - flowerpot

Language / Inability to roll r's considered a 'lisp' in Polish? [4]

The most common lisp is probably the s-lisp (or lithp). Having both the s-lisp and the r-lisp should mark a Polish person out to be a good candidate for speaking English quite well.

I can pronounce my Polish r properly (usually), and I can roll my tongue and turn it on it's side. Sometimes I can hold my tongue so I don't have to bite my lip or eat my words.

Language / Difference between zbyt and za [11]

I have tried saying "zbyt" instead of "za", but I don't feel comfortable with it. When trying to say something is toooooo big, tooooo bright, TOOOOOOO messed up or whatever, "za" seems easier to intonate in a way that makes it sound toooooo this or toooo that. "Zbyt" sounds like such a little word whereas "za" can sound quite big. That is to my ears anyway.

Language / Difference between Polish Ł and English W [23]


Most of the English are too lazy to pronounce the letter R before a consonant too. Poles are so lazy, they couldn't be bothered to keep the dual number or some of the old verb tenses. The French are really lazy, only pronouncing about half of each word as it appears written down. Actually, we're all lazy.

History / Poland: dont blame us its the Germans. [174]

Fashions come and fashions go, but the blame game lasts for ever. Who is it fashionable to blame today?

Life / Polish gestures, differences between Polish and Spanish. [8]

I believe that holding up two fingers behind someone's head in a V-shape is much more innocent for Poles than for those of Mediterranean cultures.

Travel / Is the general consensus in Poland that black people shouldn't visit? [35]

There was at least one Mr. Ofoegbu in £ódź in late 1964. I know because I have his old Polish book. That's a Nigerian surname, by the way.